LANGLEY, Gil

Gil Langley was a talented rover from Sturt in South Australia, where he had played from 1938 to 1942. Prior to this he played with Colonel Light Gardens in the South Australian Amateurs.

Langley played four games for Essendon in 1943 when he was posted to Melbourne through his service in munitions during World War II. One of these games was as a reserve in the losing 1943 Grand Final team.

Langley then returned to Sturt from 1944 to 1948 and captained that club in 1945 and 1947. He also played for South Australia in 1947. He played again with Sturt in 1950. He is one of only two players to captain Sturt at both football and cricket. The other was Victor Richardson.

He is best known as a cricketer and he played 26 Tests for Australian as a wicket keeper.

Langley was elected to the South Australian Parliament as a Labor MP in 1962 where he served until his retirement in 1982. He also served as the speaker in the South Australian Parliament from 1977 to 1979.

He was inamed in Sturt's Team of the Century and was inducted as an inaugural member of the Sturt Hall of Fame in 2001. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1984 and in recognition of his services to cricket, the Gil Langley Function Room at Adelaide Oval was named in his honour.

After a long battle with Alzheimer's disease, Langley died on 15th May, 2001.